


strangest joy

by stag_von_simp



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Academy phase, Dimitri is Afraid, Felix Can't Handle Sugar, Female Byleth, First snowfall, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Snowball Fights, They Deserve This So Much, White Clouds, Winter, based on a tumblr prompt, sugar rush - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21793930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stag_von_simp/pseuds/stag_von_simp
Summary: byleth learns to enjoy the snow in the weirdest possible way.(based on the prompt "how much sugar have you had?")
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & My Unit | Byleth, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & My Unit | Byleth
Kudos: 13





	strangest joy

byleth tugs her coat over her shoulders–thrusts her arms through the sleeves, fiddles with the zipper until it jingles by her neck–before trundling obediently in the wake of flayn. the path she burns as she trots for the door might as well be paved in pastels and glitter, the little girl’s excitement is so tangible. it leaks onto byleth’s tongue, stinging her senses with unfamiliar cheer.

“it is first snow, miss eisner!” flayn informs her yet again, slamming into the door palms-first and hurling it out of the way. she then leaps into the snow with nothing left of propriety, fingers splayed so the white can puff between them. “come on, enjoy it! i didn’t bring you out here to merely stand at the sidelines!”

nonetheless, byleth chooses to loiter near the door with her hands clenched in her pockets, uncertainty carving in through the smog of joy that swarms around her–so clear on flayn’s beaming face, in the tussle of limbs on the other side of the courtyard, in the snowflakes streaming weakly down from the clouds. 

but byleth still feels removed from it all.

_what else is she meant to do?_

the question is answered for her promptly when dimitri staggers toward her, snow caked in his hair in puddles. his eyes are wide, and the cold scribbles his cheekbones red. it looks like he may have been involved in the flailing knot of students she’d noted a few seconds ago.

she’s meant to solve the dilemmas of her students, of course.

despite the unfortunate answer, she’s grateful to have one. despite herself, a smile squirms at the corners of her mouth, the slightest twitch, and she succumbs to it easily. dimitri rakes a hand through his hair, wincing at the cold of the snow as it licks his bare fingers. 

“what’s the matter, dimitri? enjoying the snow?” she asks, voice bursting into the atmosphere in a tide of dull white. “it looks to me as though you are.”

“well, of course, just–” dimitri yanks a breath from the air sharply, drowning himself out before starting anew. “er, i just felt the need to warn you, um–wait, you’re presiding over flayn, yes?”

byleth bobs into the confirmation.

“then this is even more important for me to tell you. um…it looks to me as though felix has…gotten his hands on some of the treats that had been offered this morning. he’s…well, he’s not quite himself.”

“oh? what’s the matter? did he have a poor reaction?” byleth flusters aloud, swiping her hands from her pockets quickly as adrenaline pummels through her fingers. “is he ill?”

“not…not in the way you think,” dimitri says. “even when we were children…felix has never been much of a match for sugar. what i’m trying to say is…he’s kind of trying to destroy everyone with snowballs.”

 _that’s it?_ byleth snorts, the sound jagged in her throat, hoarse with the chill.

“professor, you don’t understand–he’s _very_ _serious_ about this. just…make sure flayn stays safe. felix really doesn’t handle sugar well. ingrid even had to restrain him physically before i–”

the sound of a raucous whoop shatters through the thick air. the snowflakes seem to bristle, locking in position in the midst of their twirl to the earth.

byleth pounces to glance over dimitri’s shoulder…and sees felix, fingers bleached around sloppily-made orbs of snow, hurtling toward dimitri. a wicked grin strains on his lips.

dimitri swerves to look in time with byleth. the mask of terror that melts across his expression makes the whole ordeal all the more amusing for her, and she has to cram her fist against her lips to keep from cackling. 

dimitri is punched with what may be a thousand fists of snow all at once. felix is _howling._

byleth ambles down from the stoop she’d been huddled on a second ago, cuffing the now-hunched felix’s shoulders and prying him from his crouch. there are buds of snow in his hands, not fully fleshed snowballs quite yet. he’s panting, entire chest rocking with every breath he wrestles down.

“how much sugar have you had?” byleth asks, voice wobbling with the urge to laugh. there’s an admonishment in her tone, but the mirth smothers it completely. 

felix doesn’t answer, either because he’s dodging it or because it pings off his frenzied mind without leaving so much as a dent to register. his only response is to bounce one of his infant snowballs right between her eyes.

the patch of skin it splattered sears with all-devouring cold. dimitri lunges from where he’d been standing a second ago, running to her side and begging her forgiveness in felix’s name.

all byleth does is fold neatly, mold a ball of snow between her hands, and chuck it at felix in retaliation.

felix takes this as a challenge, and the tussle she’d witnessed screams into a brawl she’s embroiled in, with no hope of escaping and barely any desire to.

she can faintly hear flayn cheering: “that’s it, miss eisner! that is how you enjoy the snow!” pride shimmers in her tone.

and byleth has the most fun she has had in _years._


End file.
